DeLand: Thanks to seniors for reading the paper

SARTELL – Bill Nissen is a slender gentleman with a formidable head of snow-white hair. He's somewhat stooped by age, which frequently comes as a byproduct of being 92 years old.

Nissen uses a walker to help navigate the halls at Country Manor in Sartell, and he uses it deliberately.

But he also has a firm handshake, a steady voice, precise diction and sparkling eyes. He still has the intellectual curiosity he carried throughout his life.

Anyway, this really isn't specifically about Bill. And it's only marginally about his idea for a newspaper product, the idea that initially brought us together.

This is about senior citizens, and their lives, and how that pertains to communications media in general.

This also is about baby boomers, and Generation Xers, and millenials. This is about those little kids running around on your lawn.

This is about everybody. Because someday, with any luck, they'll all get to where Bill Nissen is today.

"You can carry the story back of what I'm talking about here, because it never ends," Nissen said. "Everybody eventually hits 50."

There are lots of material objects that become less important to people as they grow older and evolve into their senior years. Most of them, really: When they're into their retirement years, people simply don't need as much stuff — nor do they want it.

But their newspaper becomes more important.

For seniors, the newspaper is often their primary connection to the world. And people actually have more time in their senior years to pay attention to things, instead of running around doing whatever had to be done with their families and jobs and lives.

Those things have slowed down. So have many seniors, who might not be physically able to be as active in their community.

That doesn't mean they don't care about it any more. That doesn't mean they don't want to be informed about it.

Sometimes it's easy to forget about seniors when they finish parenting, retire from working and move into a retirement center a little out of the mainstream.

But they deserve better. They've carried the load. They've made their contributions.

Many of them still have contributions to make. They're not usually looking to get rich — they just want to do something useful. They want to be part of something that helps others.

Nissen, who formerly worked in advertising and publishing, has an idea for a senior-friendly, large-type TV listing booklet and advertising vehicle that would be available a week in advance.

"It would immeasurably help the senior population that built the paper," Nissen said. "And it never stops. Every year, somebody would be hitting 50."

And 60. And 70. And, if they're lucky, 92.

So, we're here today to pass along that idea to people at a significantly higher pay grade than myself. Ultimately, this is their decision.

But we're also here to pass along a little appreciation — to Bill, and to people like him. There are a lot of them, way more than you might think.

To all of those seniors, thanks.

Thanks for supporting the profession I've worked in for 36 years and hopefully will continue to work in for quite a while.

Thanks for your loyalty. There is no more devoted group of newspaper readers than seniors.

Thanks for your passion. These are people who care not only about the news of their community, but how it's presented.

Thanks for your feedback. Seniors often have more time to read, and to react. They're often the first to compliment you on a job done well. They're also not shy about pointing it out when it wasn't.

Thanks for doing the crossword puzzles and reading the obituaries. Thanks for digesting the sports section and devouring the local news.

Thanks for keeping track, keeping vibrant, keeping up.

Thanks for caring. Really, nobody does it better.

This is the opinion of Times columnist Dave DeLand. Contact him at 255-8771 or by email at ddeland@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @davedeland and on Facebook at Dave DeLand SC Times.